Hyderabad – Ernakulam

It has been quite a while since I did this route by road, so I thought it was time to run it again. This time however things were going to be a little more complicated because we would be hauling two kids – 2.5 year and 6 months – with us.

Although we started early, I could only push as far as Salem. It was my aim to actually push for Coimbatore by the end of the first day. But Diya’s feeding would take over an hour each time, which meant we lost about 3 hours. With those three hours, we could definitely have made it to Coimbatore. The roads are, for the most part, pretty good. Although the Hyderabad-Bangalore section is still under 4-laning. They have opened 2 lanes on most parts of the highway, so you get good roads for most of the journey.

The second leg of the journey Bangalore – Salem, is pretty tedious at the beginning because you are driving through Bangalore. I really need to find a way to skirt around Bangalore. Bangalore – Hosur is another time consuming section. The Hosur – Salem section is the best. You hardly ever need to come below 100 km/h on this road. It is a toll road, and once you cross the toll booth, you can sink your foot to the floor.

Salem – Coimbatore is yet again a slow section. The roads are not too wide and not very well topped either. The same goes for the roads in Kerala. So this section of the journey is not only slow, it is also very painful.

Tip:

Break the journey into two equal halves with stop over at Bangalore. It is less tedious that way.